I am the baker, I bake the cake. Make no mistake, I like to bake.

Dear Family,

Well it's been a pretty good week! It was a really good Sunday this week. It was ward conference which is just especially edifying. The best part was they asked me to substitute as the primary pianist! Oh it was fantastic! I walked in and I told the chorister, "I just can't play A Child's Prayer, ok?" Literally 10 seconds later the primary president got up, welcomed the kids and announced we'd be singing A Child's Prayer! Oh boy! It turned out better than I would have imagined. I need improvement for sure but considering how many times I've touch a piano on my mission and that I was warmed up I would say it was an accomplishment!

We went to mass with Josh on Saturday and we took Nikisha with us. It was a good experience again. He isn't as willing to come to our church now though. He did take the 3 of us to dinner afterwards at a ridiculously nice Korean restaurant. It was delicious, but lets just say if I was paying for myself I would have taken one look at the menu and walked out. It was very nice of him. Nikisha is just wonderful. Every time we take her out with us she always invites people to church and tells them how great it is!

Wednesday we made a list from the ward list of people we wanted to go meet and it actually turned out to be a wonderful experience. From my previous experience of doing that either no is home, they pretend not to be home, or say get away from my home. But 3 of the 5 let us in and it was so good! Wonderful people and one came to church on Sunday!

We also saw Dawn again this week. She is opening up to us more and being more honest about her concerns which is just so helpful! She is so prepared for the gospel! We just need to help her have the courage to step foot in the church.

It was also birthday week this week. We knocked on Nikisha's door and happened to be right in time for her son De'Angelo's birthday cake and presents! It's like missionaries have a 6th sense for food. We didn't know it was his birthday even. The next day we baked a cake for Kristy's birthday and took family photos for her. It was fun until we were out in the middle of a field and unreasonably large spiders started crawling on us. Not cool. Kristy's son's baptism did get postponed for the last time :) October 10th is the official date! Which means the adversary is going to try hard to make it not happen. Keep him in your prayers, DeAndre. He is a good kid,, nevertheless he is a rambunctious kid.

Saturday night we had a neat experience. We dropped by Kristy's house and Carolyn a former investigator was sitting in her kitchen. She is going through a rough time and she asked if the Elders could give her a priesthood blessing. So we called the Elders and got them over. The Spirit was very strong and I think it made an impression on everyone there.

We also saw Jim this week. He is still reading Jesus the Christ and studying. We gave him like 4 hefty talks to read and he said he'll happily read them by our next meeting. It's so funny, the first thing he does when he picks up a talk is turn to the back and look at the sources. If he doesn't like the sources he tosses it. It has made me pretty impressed with the knowledge of our church leaders though. They, according to Jim, have some great sources. We gave him one and he'll say, "Oh I have this book, I've read that one, I wrote a paper on that one, I know the author of that one, this guy taught me,ect." Our jaws all drop a little bit. I hope my IQ goes up every time we meet with him.

I feel like like my letters are getting progressively shorter. I think it's a combination of the weeks are flying by and my brain is fried. I can hardly remember a thing anymore. I did have a dream dad gave me an iPhone 6. You may think that is a joke but it is not :) I just went back and added more to my letter so you can imagine how short it was. Sorry if it makes no sense. Safe travels and everything. Next week borrow one of Jake's computers to write my letter on ;) Have fun holding the new baby!

I love you more than all the birthday cakes in the world!

Anne

Amazing Grace!

Dear Family,

I am waiting on the edge of my seat for baby news! I vote that as soon as pictures can be taken and printed, they should be sent! Because that will hopefully get here faster than me waiting until next Monday to meet baby boy Trent and all the exciting weights and measurements and name and cuteness. I hope all goes well.

Of course we saw Jim again this week. That man. It is a pleasure to be in his company. We gave him "The Blueprint of Christ's Church" last week and so we talked about it this week. There are a few points that he didn't entirely agree with, yet. And a lot of key ones that he was okay with believing. We got onto the subject of infant baptism. We got talking and he had similar beliefs about children being clean and whatnot, so we asked his thoughts on original sin. Oh boy! He got all excited, went to the other room and came out with a paper. It was a sermon he gave at his granddaughter's baptism. His daughter asked him to give the sermon, he asked her if she was sure. He got up there and gave this wonderful sermon that destroyed the concept of original sin. It really was a good sermon. I am hoping to leave his house next time with a copy. He was reading it out loud to us and saying things like, "Wow! This is really good! I can't believe I wrote this!", "I sound like a Mormon! This is really scary!" It was hilarious. He is coming along. He is going to watch general conference this week. He is looking forward to hearing from his friend Dieter.

We also went to one of our investigators house and she showed us the most amazing quilt I have seen in my life! I took a picture of it for you mom :)

Lexi and Stacy made it to both volleyball and mutual this week. We went with Lexi to mutual and it happened to be a barbecue. We stayed to true to the missionary motto, they come, they eat, they leave. Our bishop saw us when we showed up and said, "Of course the missionaries found the free food! It's too bad the Elders weren't smart enough" It gave us a good laugh. Our bishop is a character. He also had the youth sing really loud to get the neighbors to ask him questions to present missionary opportunities. We helped people move this week, we got sweet unexpected dinners and lunches! So many kind people so kindly fed us. We met a lot of members in the ward. We traveled way out in the boonies of Wisconsin to locate people. Spent way too much time in the car, but I would say it was a successful adventure. Saw some sweet cars. Met some nice people. Ate ice cream. Rode our bikes. Attempted to run. Taught the gospel. It was great. Laughed. Sweat. Smiled. Itched.

That's my summary. I loved general conference as well. I am 100%, positively, absolutely stoked for general conference. I am on the edge of my seat excited. I can't wait.

Now for my favorite part of this week. Sacrament meeting. It was one of those moments that will forever go down as one of my favorites. Let me tell you about the sweetest woman named Alberta. I hope no one takes this story the wrong way, I love this woman as does everyone in the ward. She is a character and a half. She is the spunkiest 85 year old woman I have ever met, just this tiniest petite little thing. Her eyes are so wrinkled and droopy she can hardly see, so when she wants a good look at you just just props her eyes open. So cute! She will sit down at the piano, hold her eyes open to look at the key of the song and start playing like a concert pianist. Also, you can never get away with singing a song unless she leads with both arms, very animated. She got up and bore a 25 minute testimony telling a story of one members who passed away. She got all caught up with it and she was going, using the best metaphors I have ever heard in my life. She all the sudden exclaimed, "Let's all just sing one verse of Amazing Grace!" She lifted her arms, took a breath, I was getting ready to take a breath wondering who all was going to sing. The Bishop jumped up, whispered something to her. She went back to the pulpit and told us the bishop said no. It was cute and hilarious. Our bishop's face was so red! It was a good moment.

Dawn is doing well still, we are working slowly but surely getting her to the church. DeAndre is set for the 10th for his baptism. We are very excited for that! The work is going well. Great ward, great life.

I hope this week is fantastic for you. Have fun watching general conference and be safe! I love you all so much! Love you more than I wish we would have kept singing!

Anne

I Got Straightened Out

Dear Family!

I just feel so good today! For many reasons! I feel blessed! I just opened my email to a new job at Deseret Book, blessing from on high! It is celestial work there. Thank you Heavenly Father! Also last night we were at the best kind of dinner parties. It was at the Wihongi's with the usual feast from on high. 4-5 fun families. One of which is Brother Haskin's which I have mentioned before. He is the 8th degree black belt. Well turns out that he not only knows how to take apart the body but also put it back together. He looked at me and said, "Sister Trent you look wrong." What? He then uses fancy terms I don't know how to repeat. He then asked if he could realign my back. Yes. So he did! It was awesome! I was popping more than popcorn! I didn't feel bad before but now I feel great! 

I forgot to tell you a funny story from last week. So we went and saw Josh again and we had to meet outside because we didn't have a member with us. He had all of these plants on his porch one of which were peppers that neither of us had ever seen before. They are named "Devil's Spit" That should have been a sign. So Sister Rosenblum said she would eat one if one of us ate one. Of course all of us had way too much pride to say no even though we knew better. So I ate a whole one. Oh my goodness. At first it wasn't bad. then everything went painful numb. The more you breathed the more it hurt! Thankfully he gave us a glass of milk. I was okay, Sister Rosenblum wasn't as ok. But we all survived!

So we had a miracle this week. We have been trying to contact this less active man for ages! Never home. We pulled up this time and he was outside smoking! Which is a good thing in it's own little way. But he immediately shared his conversion story and bore a beautiful testimony. He was so close to going on a mission but he slipped up smoking once and it went downhill. The cutest part was he had his son come out and the son was helping tell the conversion story. He is only 12 but he knew his dad's story and he knew his love for the gospel. The kids ended up coming to church on Sunday! Fransisco didn't but one step at a time. 

Just a side note. That will help you understand the pictures I will send. The brown hair is from an awesome package from Jake & April's family. I can't explain it anymore than that. We thought we would put it to good use. 

It has been exciting in our ward, 2 young men just got their mission calls and it is still strange as always to be on this end and see that! Both have 5 weeks to prepare. That is crazy to me considering I had 4 months! Our ward is so great though. We have been having lots of opportunities to get to know the members better. They are so sweet. I would live in Appleton. 

We were able to also finally see Dawn again! She is a little difficult to get a hold of! She is just the sweetest thing though! Oh my goodness. She loves the Book of Mormon and reads it. She is pretty sickly which is why it is hard to get in with her. So this time we decided to give her several pamphlets so she could read and study. I think it will help a lot with being able to teach her. She gets to have it mostly between her and the Spirit. She was crying and just felt the Spirit so strong, she loves the strengths she receives from the Book of Mormon and she just loves Joseph Smith. It is interesting yet neat having to teach her in the way that helps her the best. 

We had a lot of things not go as planned this week but it didn't go really as planned. But that is okay, the Lord still blesses us with His love. I am always just struck by His great mercy for us. It is indescribable. He blesses me with a really cool not coincidence yesterday. So ther Elders in another ward have been trying to get me to meet a deaf member in the 2nd ward for a while now but it just hasn't worked out. I finally got to see her for 10 minutes before church started. She is so kind and I am so rusty. We were talking and I find out she just moved from Idaho Falls 2 years ago! WHAT? I couldn't believe it! What are the chances! We didn't have too much time  to talk, we will hopefully next Sunday. meanwhile I will be brushing up on my signing. I am going to find out where all the deaf people are in IF so I can go be friends with them. I am pretty excited! 

I love you so much family! I appreciate all the letters! It's exciting times! I can't wait to see pictures of my new nephew and here news about Lindsey! I hope all goes well!

I love you more than I love fall weather!

Anne

p.s. To answer you're questions. Yes we still ride bikes. Not as much. I am sure the last week of the month it will be a lot. Sister Homan and Kelsea were companions. Sister Rosenblum is an awesome companion! I love her!

I'm Singing in the Rain

Dear Family!

Wisconsin is bipolar. However we are currently experiencing my favorite kind of weather, that is RAIN! Lots of it! We had a huge rain storm one night and we got an inch of rain that night. We've gotten some good thunderstorms too that shake the soul and windows. It is still raining, I am pretty sure it has been 24 hours straight too! 

This week really not too much "missionary proselyting" stuff happened. We had a week full of meetings and stuff! Let me give you a meeting log. 

So Tuesday we had a zone training meeting down in Neenah and it took a very long time. And I can't remember really what happened because this missionary forgot her notebook which my brain doesn't work without. But we also had to pack up and clean and get ready to move for Wednesday!

So Wednesday we knew we were moving and the mission office said to leave our whole day empty because it would take all day. We thought we could get it done in 6 hours. Boy were we wrong. All day! We were SO exhausted by the end of the day. It was ridiculous. My whole body and mind was done. I don't know how ya'll ever moved houses! We moved apartments that are furnished. But it was worth it because I love our new apartment! It is beautiful and bright and happy.

Didn't mean to send that yet. My bad. I will include pics of the apartment though. The only problem is the AC does nothing for our room. It's hot. I am sure we won't have to worry too much longer about that.  

We did have cool missionary moment. With Jim. We went to his house on Thursday. He was speechless. It was the most genuine I have ever seen him. He is reading Jesus the Christ and it went along perfectly with the Godhead because he is reading about the pre-mortal life and grand council. He just has never thought of it that way. Ever. It was like he was in shock. Now he is really studying. He asked to have two weeks between our meeting because he wanted to study more. I really hope this is a turning point for him. I think his meeting with the missionaries went from entertainment, to better entertainment/curiosity, now he needs to know. We will keep praying that he can accept the truths he learns. We have another article to throw at him to keep adding :) 

Friday we had our halfway training point for the new missionaries. That was fun! I saw a lot of  missionaries I hadn't seen in awhile and met a lot of new good ones! I met a fellow nerd, Sister Palmer who is going to Janesville and Sister Stosich is finishing her training. We had lots of roleplays and lots of stuff thrown at the new missionaries. I remember those days. It was neat though to hear all the things said for the missionaries in  the beginning of their missions yet the Spirit still spoke to me about what I needed nearing the not beginning. 

I also took Sister Rosenblum out for her taste of Wisconsin at Culver's, she enjoyed Custard. 

Saturday was a great day because it was our first full proselyting day all week! We went out to New London and helped out Selina, a less active with organizing an cleaning. She fed us a delicious lunch and her daughter is so funny. We also had an appointment with Fernando and his daughter. She begged to come to church and they were so close to but right before church he texted us telling us he will come next week. So we will be crossing our fingers. 

Sunday we had a huge feast at the Wihongi's. I am sure I gained 20 pounds from that meal. You can't beat Wihongi food and there is so much of it! You can't stop! I don't really want to give you a food log either. I could. 

Yesterday we went over to teach her family a lesson and she was really frustrated with her boys not cleaning and she was telling us how she wanted to just throw all their stuff away! (sound familiar?) So we asked if they wanted to throw stuff away and they said yes! So we went up and gave away to black garbage bags full of toys! Willingly. They still have a lot. Hopefully that will help Kristy feel better, less of a mess to make right. Of course where there is a will there is a way. We also walked with her and the boys to church because they are a block away from us. It was hot but fun. 

It was a good week despite all the long stuff, it threw me off. It was actually very good and just the right boost. I definitely can feel the Lord's love and his guidance in the work. I can't wait for a good work week this week!

I love you more than I love the mountains!

Anne